Sometimes the creative process requires foul language. -- Charles NeilWoodworking is 3% talent and 97% not paying attention to the internet -- zazzle.comIf I had a Domino... I'd mortise and tenon my shoes on in the morning. -- Bud :)If Maker Faire ever comes to your city, grab some video game addicted youth and show them the real world. There I said it. -- John Economaki

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

-sigh- I have a stair project that gets little attention. I started making great progress sealing it a couple months ago then made the molding recently. All I needed to do was rip the molding and put it down. Seems simple, no? Halfway through the third piece of 14, -boom!- blade stops. Then I hear the unique sound of a bearing bouncing repeatedly on the concrete. Look under the table to find this:

My lower thrust bearing disintegrated. It jammed against the blade and snapped my Laguna Resaw King(if you look at the product page and think, "hmm, cheap blade"... that's the per inch price).

I sent the blade back to Laguna for sharpening and a weld repair, but they called to say the resulting blade would be a Frankenstein so I agreed to just buy a new one that will be here tomorrow. Excellent service. They were nice enough to make me a very nice deal considering the circumstances.

So why did I mention McMaster-Carr? It's a treasure-trove of hardware goodness. A friend Poto from talkFestool.com sent me there awhile ago then I sent some people there from WoodtalkOnline.com. It now routinely comes up as the source.

If you shop there, you'll be impressed with the online catalog's search method. When you order, you pay just the tax and total; shipping is added after they really ship, which is different from nearly all retailers, but I noticed that they pretty much charge the real shipping with, I believe, a $5 minimum. I mean, just look at that catalog! Three inches thick! Their site banner says "Over 480,000 products". And I swear every one of them is in stock for delivery...

...and that includes the six sealed metric bearings I need to replace all of them on my saw.